Opinion

To the editor: Anyone in North Carolina who either has or is contemplating purchasing homeowners insurance needs to be aware of what the state’s new insurance commissioner has called “a ticking time bomb.”

Recently elected insurance commissioner Wayne Goodwin takes office next month following his mentor, Jim Long, who served 24 years as insurance commissioner before deciding not to run for re-election.

To the editor: With our nation in the midst of its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Congress must be willing to take bold and decisive action to spur a housing and economic recovery.

Unless we are able to halt the slide in home prices, the nation’s housing and economic woes will continue to grow even worse. This is why a robust housing component must be an integral part of the new economic stimulus package under consideration by the incoming Obama administration and new Congress.

To the editor: The other day, I attended a meeting at the museum that included our superintendent of schools, school principals and administrators.

The topics presented were most varied and absolutely current for the economic conditions of today: the role of schools in our county and the problems confronting our school system now and in the future.

Of note to me was the excellent presentation of an ongoing program to reduce the rate of high school dropouts and buck this national trend. Brunswick County wants no part of that.

To the editor: It is difficult to feel sorry for General Motors, based on its sordid past.

If GM gets a dime of taxpayer bailout, it should be to reinstate the clean electric rail system this country once enjoyed.

How many people have even heard of the “General Motors Streetcar conspiracy?” Between 1936 and 1950, GM bought out more than 100 electric surface-traction systems in 45 cities and replaced them with their filthy GM buses. At the time, 90 percent of all trips in the U.S. were by clean electric rail.

To the editor: I believe everyone should be held accountable for their actions—adults and children alike.

My family and I attended the Shallotte Christmas parade. I have never been so appalled by the actions of grown women and men in an environment where everyone around you can see and hear everything that you do.

I have never encountered such disregard and disrespect for others than I did that day.

A recent article in the Beacon highlighted an awards ceremony for volunteers for their service to Brunswick County.

Recipients were individuals and groups cited for their contributions as part of the Governor’s Award for outstanding service to the county.

Among those worthy recipients for honors bestowed was special recognition for the St. James Fire Department and its large volunteer organization, including a fire auxiliary that raises money and provides support and maintenance.

It’s always great to hear of billionaires donating money and resources to organizations, especially children’s charities, but to me, it means more when you hear of hard-working, everyday people going the extra mile to make a contribution or donation simply because they want to, not because they have an extra million or two laying around and send out press releases announcing their good deeds to the world.

According to the North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics, in Brunswick County in 2007, 183 women younger than 19 became pregnant. The youngest reported was a mere 12 years old. Across the state, more than 20,000 women younger than 19 got pregnant last year.

In the Brunswick County Health Department’s Community Assessment for 2007, the report indicated the county “continues to have an unusually high rate of teen pregnancy,” referring to 296 children born to mothers younger than 19 during a year-and-a-half period.

If you owned a television at all in 1988 you probably remember the scene that played out on countless “entertainment” television shows, and the follow-up images and stories that later came in newspapers and magazines.

That was the year media tycoon Oprah Winfrey rolled a wagon of fat onto the set of her show representing the 67 pounds she reportedly lost. Since then the daytime talk show host has become a spokesperson for many—touting eating healthier and exercising.

Since we’re knocking on 2009’s door, this is the time of the year when, among everything else, we’re inundated with the “best-ofs” and the “year-in-reviews” and all other shows, programs, stories and broadcasts remembering all things great in 2008.

I watched one such show last week, and I think that’ll be enough to last me for at least another year.

I found it mind-numbingly predictable, and I’m willing to bet all the rest will be equally unsurprising.

I don’t think any of us needed an official announcement to know that. We’ve seen too many of our neighbors and friends losing jobs, losing income and struggling to make it. We’ve experienced it ourselves.

It’s good to know, then, in these troubled times, some people are stepping up to the plate to make things a little better here in Brunswick County.

To the editor: I would like to know who thought up the turnaround on U.S. 17 and Ocean Isle Beach Road?

Instead of putting up a traffic light, which would have been safer for drivers, now they have you crossing three lanes to make a U-turn to go south on U.S. 17.

I feel this must have been a first-grade project. I don’t think an adult would have thought of something like this turnaround. It is backing up traffic on Ocean Isle Beach Road, which we never had before this turnaround was put in.

Last week proved to be a week of firsts for my son. It began with trip to the dentist and culminated with a Christmas parade and ride on a double-decker carousel.

Last Thursday, I was extremely nervous—much more nervous than my son, who would be the one in the dentist’s chair. How would I keep him still for the exam? What if he bit the dentist? What if we had to wait a long time before our appointment?